RPGaDay2022 - 31 - When did you first take part in #RPGaDay?

   

When did you first take part in #RPGaDay?

I first took part in RPGaDay in 2014, the first year it happened. I was on holiday in North Wales for part of it and updating from my phone. As the place we stayed didn't have WiFi and my mobile signal was spotty, that meant I was uploading my answers whenever we went out and about and found somewhere with decent signal. I originally wrote my posts on Facebook and then subsequently transferred them to the blog.

I then didn't do it again until 2020, when I completed it fully. 2021 was hit and miss as many of the prompts didn't engage me. I've found the questions this year much better. This year, I prepared most of the entries in advance on the blog and later shared to Twitter but not Facebook. I was in Anglesey again for much of the first part but this time I had WiFi.

You can see the past posts here.

31 August 2022

Mausrítter - Blessed are the Cheesemakers

The new Turn Tracker in use...

While we were on holiday, I'd floated the idea of running a roleplaying game with the lads, and got a really positive feedback from them, especially from the 11 year-old. He liked the idea of 'the mouse game', which I'd floated past him previously. This was, of course, Mausrítter, a game which is perfect for an introduction to gaming as the mechanics are simple, it has anthropomorphic mice and creatures and the scenarios don't drop a heavy load of the GM.

The view across from the GM. 

We decided to take advantage of an overcast day to play outside; fortunately, I have two dice towers which meant that the dice were saved from disappearing under the decking. It was a little it gusty so they decided to weight down their sheets. Well, the eldest (15) did, and the youngster followed when everything tried to blow away.  

One of the cats joined in.

I was joined by one of our cats, Rebel, who wanted to see what was going on, perhaps recognising the word 'mouse'. I opted to use the Stumpsville scenario from the core rules. I've previously run the other scenario, 'Honey in the Rafters', for my Curse of Strahd group during downtime and fancied something different. I also know that the Earldom of Ek setting nicely links across to the new material for 'The Estate', which I've recently received.

The eldest's two mice

As Mausrítter can be brutal on mice, the boys each created two mice. The eldest had a former prison guard (Else Winterholme) and her cousin August Winterholme, a troubadour. Nat instantly started to refer to him as 'the Bard'. His watching of the Witcher was coming to the front I think.

 

The younger pair

The youngster's two characters were Edmund Butterball, a former worm-wrangler, and his friend Rue Seedfall. She was the practical one, working on the rafts on the stream near Oaksgrove.

Play started at the settlement of Stumpsville, where our four heroes had arrived to try and find out what had happened to the weekly cheese shipment that was due for the market at Oaksgrove. It had taken then most of the day to travel the two miles (hexes) to the distant village and they arrived around 4pm in the afternoon.

Of course there was wrestling.

They explored the settlement, setting off one trap, avoiding another, and killing two wolf spiders who had captured two of the townsfolk who were hiding from a dangerous rat gang. We ended the game with them having tied up a rat they'd found in a cheese-coma in the factory stores and placed in the cage that the town's guard snake was. They were having a whispered conversation with him to find out what had happened and where the people of Stumpsville were, relying on the fact that they had a flute and a flautist and could hopefully charm the snake to avoid it waking and eating the rat.

They've asked to play again.

Mausrítter worked like a dream. The tactile method for inventory was good, and the boys really got into it. The eldest was pretty confident and his drama lessons in English GCSE helped him get into the two different characters. The youngster wanted to think things out and hedged his bets on declaring which mouse did what initially, but again, that's very him. I suspect that - at heart - he's more of the gamer though. 

I think we reconvene on Saturday.

30 August 2022

RPGaDay2022 - 30 - What should #RPGaDay do for it's tenth anniversary year?

   

What should #RPGaDay do for its tenth anniversary year?

Another decent set of questions like this year; sometimes previous years have been more contrived. I wonder if you could focus them around a person's favourite game?

30 August 2022

Go home Chrome, you're drunk and intrusive

 

Chrome is a bit marmite for me. I both love it and hate it. It was fantastic on the Chromebook (no real surprise there) but on macOS it's a pain. For some reason, it persistently reinstalls itself into login items so it opens at start-up. It also isn't very cooperative in quitting when you exit. And finally, even though it's been rewritten as a universal app, it's still an heavy energy user.

That said, it's unavoidable. Some of the apps run better in it, and Roll20 wants it as the browser. So, marmite for me.

29 August 2022

RPGaDay2022 - 29 - Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaday?

  

Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDay?

I always enjoy seeing the responses of friends to #RPGaDay. Sometimes they surprise me, which is a good thing!

I suspect it'd be nice to see some folks like Marc Miller doing it just to get a feel for their experience of the hobby.

29 August 2022

First Impressions - The Magonium Mine Murders [OSE]

The Magonium Mine Murders

The Magonium Mine Murders is a short zine style adventure setting designed of Old-School Essentials (and thus pretty much compatible with any OSR engine) by James Holloway. It's 24-pages long, black-and-white interior, but adds a further two pages by using the covers. The cover is evocative and effective and is deliberately aged to look like an old pulp cover or film poster.

I purchased it from James' Gumroad site for £10, and the physical copy came with a PDF as well.

The scenario is a murder mystery sandbox set during a time of war between two kingdoms. Magonium is a magical element which is used to support the war effort; miners are protected from the draft that has been instigated to provide soldiers for the war. The mine has expanded to support the war effort using both miners and prisoners of war, creating a boom-town effect which is not especially popular with the locals. They tolerate it more because it pays the bills. Recently, the mine has been troubled with tremors and the administrator has been murdered. There are reports of Magonium poisoning spreading from the mine; free workers wear protective suits when mining, but the prisoners don't.

The characters are given multiple hooks to put them in a place to investigate what's going on. There are several intertwining threats and challenges which should make things satisfyingly messy. There are two separate criminal threads and something more mysterious. The overall plot is explained and the information that each non-player character has is explained. Characters have nice portraits in a variety of styles, and there are functional and useful maps.

As a B/X clone, OSE isn't especially designed to do scenarios in this style, so James provides a page of guidance on running a scenario like this using an OSR ruleset. 

This is an above average scenario which could easily be picked up and run by a GM with minimal preparation. The complexities will come from the player's interactions and there are plenty of levers to be pulled to make things interesting. The vibe of the game reminds me of some of the Warlock! scenarios I've read, which is a good thing. I could easily imagine moving this sandbox over to that engine if I wanted to. Nicely done.

28 August 2022

 

RPGaDay2022 - 28 - What is your favourite RPG cover art?

  

Roll 1d8+1 and tag that many friends with your favourite RPG cover art?

So, as before I'm not tagging but here's some of the ones that I love.

Traveller Core Rules 2017

I love the 2017 version of the Traveller rules, because they really catch the feel of the game. I think that the imagery is better than the 2022 update. That said, I'll always have a love for the little black book design as well.

TRIPOD Essence

I've also always loved the cover image that Stephanie McAlea created for Wordplay which I recoloured for TRIPOD. It's a beautiful abstract image that gives a feel of diving into a new world of adventure.

Things from the Flood

I love the cover from Things from the Flood, a game that has perhaps got too little play in the UK after an incident at UK Games Expo. There's a cold starkness to it.

a/state second edition

My current favourite cover is the new edition of a/state; I thought the original was stunning, but the new one, especially with the UV spot ink, is fantastic. It references the past but gives so much more. I photographed it in the sunshine to bring out the UV of the City.

One thing I have noticed recently is that a number of a game companies offer limited edition covers which are done in leather as collector's items. They look lovely, but the normal cover often looks stunning too and I've ended up going for the normal copy. The new edition of The One Ring, a/state, and some of the Dune books spring to mind.

Also rans in this? City of Mist. Delta Green. Liminal. Age of Arthur. Alien. Tales from the Loop. Some of the D&D 5e alternative covers (Tasha's, Witchlight, Radiant Citadel).

28 Auguts 2022

RPGaDay2022 - 27 - How has the character changed?

 

How has the character changed?

Lotte Rädler-Jones: Lotte has become harder, to the point that she killed a cultist in cold blood. He was waiting to ambush her and her colleague Benjamin, but she coldly killed him. There are shadows of her past that she doesn't talk about, that she locked away when she reached America, and they are starting to surface. She's also become obsessed with investigating the horrors she has found out about, even though her travelling around the USA and now Mexico with a somewhat rumpled male antique dealer is starting to put pressure on her marriage.

Lieutenant Algernon Henry Jackson-Taylor hasn't changed much, dammit. He's British! Although he is considering skipping off from this execution exchange that his French colleagues are so damnably obsessed with completing. Or at least die trying.

 

RPGaDay2022 - 26 - Why does your character do what they do?

 

Why does your character do what they do?

Lotte Rädler-Jones has a call to adventure. The articles that she has published as a journalist show an insight into science and culture which is different from the norm; I’m always looking for the next thread to explore, especially if it weaves my passions together. She is influenced by the freedoms she saw eroded as the Weimar Republic fell apart, and feels a duty to call out injustice and defend her fellows. Trail of Cthulhu defines the pillars of sanity for a character, their innermost beliefs. Lotte's are:

• There is innate good in humanity that will prevail over evil.
• One should always do what is right, even if it costs.
• If it doesn’t harm others, it shouldn’t be condemned.

Lieutenant Algernon Henry Jackson-Taylor is far more simply defined. He's trying to live up to British ideals and family tradition. That tradition is sometimes a little challenging with his Indian heritage, but in time of war that has mostly been forgotten.

28 August 2022